What is Sombre Hair Color | How to Sombre Hair at Home – DIY

Remember when every girl wanted to look like the Hollywood female actresses and wondered why their hair looked so glossy all the time. That was nothing but Ombre hair that was shining on the cameras.

Although the Ombre technique has receded, there is still a way you could catch up with your favorite highlights. Hairstylists claim that the next revolution in the coloring industry would be ‘Sombre hair’ which almost makes your hair appear as if they are sun-kissed.

People prefer Sombre over the usual Ombre hair for a lot of reasons. Sombre only needs a little bleach compared to Ombre and keeps dry and damaged hair at bay. Dark roots appear softer, and the hair color looks more put together.

Sombre goes with a lot of shades and tones, leaving even Balayage behind in adding texture and dimension to the hair. The new Sombre trend can suit anyone as the roots are kept natural and give off low maintenance vibes.

What is Sombre hair?

‘Sombre hair’ is just a softer version of Ombre hair and classier. The key to achieving the desired sombre version is to add more colors to the hair color; the roots and the ends shouldn’t have much of a difference.

If you want the sombre to suit you the most, then take a few shades lighter than your skin tone and mix a few shades darker to it. Voila! You have found your perfect Sombre hair!

While you think that it is partial to only blondes, let me tell you otherwise. A tinge of Honey, caramel, softer versions of gold can be used on brunettes to give them lighter shades of their natural hair and give them a taste of the ‘sombre look’ without the problem of regrowth. They do a great job at brightening up the ends

It wouldn’t be wrong if I say that Sombre is just a big sister to Ombre, who is a drama queen and works excellent only if handled with care.

Popular Sombre Hair Colors

Sombre hair colors
  • Mousy brown and blonde – few dashes of blonde on your natural mousy dull brown hair can give it a new life. This color just lifts the spirits of the hair.
  • Light brown and golden blonde – To gift a new life to your light brown hair, all you need is a bit of golden blonde on it. This sombre will bring out a very fabulous look till the ends of the locks.
  • Black and gold – we have been discussing blondes and brunettes who are lucky enough to be able to experiment with their hair. But what about people with jet black hair? It’s not that difficult. Paint some of your locks with bold gold with sombre hair technique and voila, you have some golden strands with a gorgeous backdrop of black.
  • Brown sombre for Dark colored hair – Everyone should learn from dark colored hair girls, how to rock the sombre look. The brown color perfectly blends in with their dark colored hair and gives them a fantastic, flawless natural-looking hair.
  • Caramel – Some tints of caramel sombre would look great in bouncy curly brown hair. This subtle color adds an extra hint of character to the overall look.
  • Golden on blonde – This combination looks killer and party-ready. Pair it with a short black dress, and you are surely going to break a lot of hearts with that look.
  • Blonde on the front – with this method, you can light up your face as the color will gradually turn darker towards the back. This gives more definition to your face, and hair looks more dominant.
  • Platinum Sombre – In the first look, this one could be mistaken for a standard of brown and gold but when you carefully have a look at the tips, do you see the sparkling platinum ends.
  • Silver on blonde – gone are the days when only older adults had mature silver hair, and people were ashamed of it. Bold blonde girls can adopt this sombre hair color and can easily pull it off.
  • Honey – Asian Women can rock this sombre hair color on their dark brown hair. Soft curls or beach waves on this hair could see up your game.

Sombre Hair technique at home : DIY Sombre Hair

DIY Sombre hair

DIY-How to Sombre Hair at Home? – all you need is a kit and some patience. This DIY is with Ombre hair colors ( Sombre hair colors are hard to find), but with a gentler natural color change.

DIY steps:

  1. Choose permanent hair color(few products are linked for your reference) which is three shades lighter than your previous natural color for DIY Sombre hair
  2. Divide your hair into sections and clip it after backcombing. Apply color to the parts that are not combed and wrap it with foil. By doing this, you remove half your hair and apply color to the rest.
  3. After you feel that it is settled, wash it and dry. Comb back the hair you backcombed and mix it with the hair which has color.
  4. All the combing and uncombing diffuses the line and reduces the contrast between dark and light shades.
  5. One thing to be kept in mind would be, the closer you get to the scalp, lighter shades are you going to obtain.
  6. This method doesn’t work on already colored hair.

Products that can be used for DIY Sombre hair

For blondes

Revlon Colorsilk Color Effects Frost and Glow Highlights, Honey, 1 Count

  • SALON-INSPIRED HIGHLIGHTS: Create salon-worthy, customizable highlights at home with this all-in-one lightener kit. Use it for permanent highlighting, balayaging, frosting, and creating ombre hair
  • 2 WAYS TO HIGHLIGHT: The easy-to-use LightZones Cap & Hook helps you create precise blonde highlights. Or skip the cap and paint on balayage streaks only where you want a lightening effect
  • ANTI-BREAKAGE TECHNOLOGY: Bond Restore Complex technology causes less damage after achieving subtle or dramatic highlights
  • BLONDE WITHOUT BRASS: Our violet-pigmented conditioner boosts color and banishes brassy tones
  • CHOOSE YOUR SHADE: Pick between two sun-kissed ammonia-free and paraben-free shades. Honey for light brown, medium brown, and dark brown hair; Blonde for medium blonde, dark blonde, and light brown hair

This shade of permanent hair color is Honey which will be suitable for people with blonde hair. It can be used for both – dramatic as well as a subtle look. This ammonia-free hair color created precise and glorious highlights, leaving your hair looking glossy and healthy.

For brunettes:

L’Oreal Paris Superior Preference Ombre Touch, OT4 Dark Brown

These layers of light as the package says are for Ombre but can be turned into Sombre hair with the simple DIY given above. This hair color comes with a finger applicator for ease of application and provides a natural look to brunettes. Have the subtle dark to light transition, and you would want to use it again!

Sombre hair Vs Ombre hair

Sombre vs Ombre hair

With new fashion terms popping up all the time, we hardly get time to understand them fully. When we finally sit on that salon chair, we might be confused about what will suit our hair. It’s essential to know all the terms and what will they do to your hair. When you are stuck between Sombre and Ombre, knowing the difference between them, might help you get out of the dilemma.

As stated in earlier statements, Sombre is a subtler version of Ombre. The sombre hair treatment makes your hair stand out just a bit, by adding the right amount of colors. The difference between the roots and the ends isn’t striking, and it helps in presenting a more natural look.

The coloring process is a lot less straightforward than Ombre, but you have to be careful about blending in color with the natural hair co lour. The choice of hair color also plays a vital role in determining the outcome.

The Sombre is nothing but a cocktail of lighter and darker shades than your natural hair colors and demands very less maintenance. A couple of touch-ups once a month will suffice.

To explain the meaning of the word ‘Ombre’ in simple way – It means shaded. And that’s precisely what your hair look likes after you do the ‘Ombre hair.’

This technique makes hair color transitions from roots to ends quite visible, so the difference is quite stark. Ombre has been in the hair styling industry from 6 years but has become less popular due to the newest Sombre hair.

People who want a significant change from their natural hair color still opt for this technique. Its fits both blondes and brunettes.

Sombre Hair Vs Balayage Hair

Sombre Hair Vs Balayage Hair

Balayage and Sombre hair might appear to be the same in the first look, but they have a significant difference to them.

The Balayage technique is used for painting a softer version of highlights on your hair. They add a different kind of dimension to the hair concerning your previous shade.

Balayage hair is recognized by the ‘sweep’ look just like the meaning its name – to sweep. Hairstylists use this technique and paint the hair in triangular sections. The highlights are a few shades lighter than the natural hair color, and the ends are few shades darker. This shading gives a more voluminous look to your hair.

Foils are not used in this method which is the sole reason why Balayage highlights are softer and not look like a person spent hours in a salon.

Sombre hair, on the other hand, although it gives a natural look uses foils and needs a lot of time to provide the best results. Also, the ends are lighter, unlike in Balayage.

Balayage is preferred over Sombre by many when they are sort after “the beach waves“.